


Morado

by PaladinAzul



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Langst, Latino Lance (Voltron), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 09:03:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11643300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaladinAzul/pseuds/PaladinAzul
Summary: Lance tries to cope with falling into Keith's shadow. Again.





	Morado

**Author's Note:**

> HERE'S SOME LANGST HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE BLUE BOY

Red wasn’t the most cooperative lion, that part was obvious. Like her paladin, she was temperamental, she could act reckless, but she had a good heart. Well, if robotic lions in space could have hearts.

When Red let Lance in for the first time, he was surprised. She had rejected Allura, but accepted him? He almost felt proud of himself, prouder when he saw Keith’s reaction. He expected to be able to bond with her easily, considering how easily she accepted him as her new paladin. Of course, he was wrong.

“Lance! What the hell are you doing?”

He tightened his grip on the controls as Red kept taking the lead, spinning him out of formation.

“We’re never going to form Voltron again if you don’t get your shit together!” Keith yelled into the coms.

“Keith, it’s not all his fault.” Hunk tried softly.

“NO! Allura adapted to Blue in less than a day! It’s been almost two weeks and Lance still can’t do something as simple as staying in formation!”

“Shut up, Keith!” Pidge was getting tired of Keith’s constant scolding.

“Well maybe if Lance could do his job right for once I wouldn’t be yelling so much!”

Lance had enough. “Then fucking find someone who’ll make a better paladin!”

With that, he muted his com and flew Red away from the others, towards the castle. His grip never loosened and his eyes started to sting. When he got to the hangars he stayed inside for a while longer, not ready to face the looks of disappointment he would get.

What was wrong with him? Keith was right, he couldn’t do his own job right, he would be the reason they would never form Voltron again. After a while, he could hear the rest of lions coming back in, but he didn’t move once, and eventually he heard everyone else leave the hangars.

“Why me, Red?” It was a small whisper, but he knew she could hear him. He got no response from her, the same result he had gotten for the past two weeks. He groaned, “Fine, don’t talk to me.”

Opening the latch, he stormed out, feeling frustrated, confused, sad. He dried his tears quickly, and made his way over to Blue. With a sad smile he approached her, and sat himself down on her paw. “Hey, girl.”

He felt her warm welcome in his mind, a purr that was always reassuring.

“You’re not disappointed in me too are you, Azul?”

_‘There’s nothing to be disappointed about’_

He scoffed, “That’s not what Keith thinks.”

_‘You two should just talk’_

“It’s impossible to talk to him. Not like he’d even want to talk to me, Keith hates me more than ever.” He leaned himself back and closed his eyes. “But, I try so hard and it’s never enough. Then Red makes it harder! Why did she accept me as her paladin if she won’t even let me pilot her?” The tears from earlier were coming back. “I don’t even want to pilot her, I want you, Azul.”

He sat there, sniffling by himself for a few seconds, while Blue kept trying to calm him.

“Lance?”

He yelled and stood up quickly, feeling his face red when he saw Keith standing there.

“Keith, what the fuck you’re trying to scare me to death?” He looked down, “Did you hear all that?”

Keith kept his face neutral and shrugged, “Kind of?”

Lance shook his head, “’Kind of?’” He waved it off, “Never mind, I don’t care, bye.”

“Lance-”

“Nope, no, goodbye!” He was walking away fast.

“No- wait, let me talk!”

“Let you talk!? What for? So you can keep reminding me of what a fuck up I am compared to you?”

“What? I never said-”

“Oh, shut up!”

“But, Lance-”

“Fuck off.” He said bitterly, then stormed out of the hangars.

Keith sighed and turned to where Lance had been sitting, then looked up at Blue. If the lions could glare he knew that was what Blue would be doing.

 

* * *

 

 

The tension was high at dinner, anyone could feel it. Even Coran was unusually quiet. They ate their regular goo quietly and eyed Keith and Lance nervously. This went on for a long time.

“So, Lance,” It was Allura who broke the silence. “How are things going with Red?”

He looked up from his plate and gave her a bored stare, “What did it seem like?”

“Lance,” Hunk warned.

“No, it’s alright, I know he must feel frustrated.”

“No offense, princess, but you don’t know how I feel.”

She sighed, “Lance, please,”

He rolled his eyes and ate another spoonful of goo.

“Princess,” Coran said, “maybe you should give Lance some advice on how to bond with Red, you seemed to do well with Blue.”

Keith nodded, “If you help him he’ll probably get the hang of it.”

“Well, if Lance is up for it?” She said it in more of a question.

Lance’s face suddenly grew darker, he frowned, almost a glare. “No,” he said forcefully.

“Dude, just say yes.” Pidge told him.

He looked at her, then at Hunk, then at everyone else. His frown deepened. “Do you guys seriously think I’m that useless?”

“What?” Keith was staring at him surprised.

“Oh, come on, Keith. You’re the one that never lets me forget.”

“Lance,” Allura was shaking her head, “No one’s saying you’re useless.”

“No one has said it but I know that’s what you’re all thinking. I’m the reason we haven’t been able to form Voltron. I can’t control Red, I can’t pilot her, FUCK she won’t even talk to me! Then every day at practice Keith is there to remind me that I’m not good enough. News flash Keith! I know I’ll never be as good as you, I know I can’t compete with our _new leader_!”

Keith stood up, slamming his hands on the table. “I didn’t ask to be leader!”

“Well you are!” Lance stood up to yell back. “And guess what!? Since you’re leader, I went back to being nothing but you’re replacement! _Again_!”

“What the fuck do you mean again?”

Lance held back a scream and balled up his fist. “When you got kicked out of the Garrison, everyone just loved to remind me that I was only fighter pilot because you got dropped! I lived in your shadow every single day! The teachers, the students, Iverson, everyone rubbed it in my face how I wasn’t good enough as you!” Lance kept getting angrier with every second that passed. “But then, when we were in that cave where we found my Azul, something happened that had never happened before. Someone chose _me_ , over _you_. Azul chose me, over you or anyone else. She wasn’t given to me, I wasn’t replacing someone, for some reason, she just chose me.”

He realized that he was crying, but tried to ignore the salt like taste in his mouth.

“But now Shiro is gone, and you’re leader. Then you guys tell me that I have to give up the only thing that has ever chosen me for who I am, the only thing that makes me feel like I’m enough?” He backtracked. “Besides you, Hunk.” Hunk smiled sadly at him.

“So I give her up, for Voltron, and then I go back to being Keith’s replacement.” He laughed, and shook his head. “Red is so used to Keith, because Keith is so perfect, no wonder she won’t let someone like me pilot her.”

“Lance stop!” Keith was yelling.

But Lance was already storming off for the third time that day.

 

* * *

 

“You’re going to talk to me right now! Whether you like it or not!” Lance yelled, standing in front of the red lion, staring up at her. He groaned and walked closer feeling a bit pleased when the latch opened for him. Inside the cockpit, he sat down and set his hands on the controls.

“BOND WITH ME.”

_Silence._

“I said bond with me!”

_Silence._

“Please,” he cried, “just talk to me.”

_Silence._

He slumped back and tugged at his hair.

_‘You two should just talk’_

He jumped, looking around. “Azul?”

 _‘You two should just talk’_ , the blue lion repeated.

Lance’s eyes widened, he looked down at the controls in his hand, then around the cockpit he was inside.

“Earlier, when you said that… you meant talk to Red, not Keith.”

He could practically see her nodding.

He loosened his hands, and took a deep breath.

“Are you up for that, Red? Think you can listen to me for a bit?”

The usual silence followed. He took that as a yes.

“I don’t know what my Azul expects me to talk to you about. I guess I should start off by saying that I wish we could work as a team. I know I’m not your paladin, I know you miss Keith, I know this because I miss Azul. But, if you could give me a chance, the sooner we can form Voltron again, the sooner we’ll find Shiro, then everything will go back to being normal.” He sighed, feeling as if he were talking to himself.

“I know I will never be a great paladin like Keith is, but, just please, work with me here. I’m trying my best.”

He finally let go of the controls, and rested his head in his hands. Again, he waited for the silence.

_‘You are a great paladin’_

He looked up, a bolt of joy going through him. “Holy quiznak, did you just talk to me?”

He waited for her to say something again, but nothing more came. He groaned and stood up, starting to pace. “You can’t just tell me that and then not talk to me again!”

“Are you in here, Lance?”

He froze, hearing Keith from outside made him nervous, and he ducked down.

But then, the latch was opening.

“No, no, no! RED? What are you doing!?”

He tried to hide but it was too late, Keith came in and had already spotted him.

“Lance, we’ve been looking for you.”

He crossed his arms, keeping his gaze to the floor.

_‘Tell him’_

“What?” He whispered.

“What?” Keith repeated.

“No, sorry, it’s just, Red said something.”

There was a faint smile on Keith’s lips, he looked relieved. “She’s talking to you?”

“Uh, yeah, kind of.” He shrugged.

_‘Tell him what you feel’_

This time he saw Keith’s eyes dart from his then to the floor, he looked as confused as Lance felt. Keith felt his stare and suddenly looked nervous.

“You heard that too?”

Lance nodded, sitting back down in the pilot seat, not really knowing what to do with himself. Keith sighed and walked closer, so he was standing directly in front of him.    

“Um, I talked to the others, and well- fuck, Lance look, I’m sorry. I know I’ve been an asshole and I’m sorry. It’s just, with Shiro gone,” he sighed, “it’s been hard.”

Lance gaped at him, but then turned his face away to look at the hands in his lap. “It’s been hard for all of us.”

“I know... and look, if I had known how you felt, if I had known about the Garrison, about this, I wouldn’t-”

“You didn’t know because you never bothered to ask! You never cared!”

“I do fucking care, Lance! I care about the others, and I care about you the most!”

Lance huffed and didn’t look up at him. Keith groaned and started to walk away, “You have every right to not believe me but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t frustrate me any less.” He stopped at the latch and felt Red’s encouraging purrs, this is what she had wanted from the beginning, for her two paladins to talk it out. Especially since she could feel the strong feelings her Keith felt for the blue paladin. Keith took a deep breath, “Lance, I wouldn’t be surprised if you hate me, I’ve treated you like shit these past weeks. I’ve been stressed and I’ve been sad, but I know Shiro wouldn’t like me taking it out on you or the others. You’re actually a really great pilot, probably even better than me, like you said, Blue chose you to bring us out here to find the rest of the lions. It’s not your fault that Red just likes to be difficult sometimes, and well, you’re so much more than my ‘replacement.’ That’s not who you are, you’re so much more than that, believe me. You’re Lance, the blue paladin, the best sharpshooter and one of the greatest fighter pilots I’ve ever met.”

Lance sat quietly, taking in every word that Keith would say, his face starting to heat up.

“And I’ve probably ruined my chance of ever having a shot with the way I’ve been treating you, but you should know anyways. Besides, if I tell you now, I think Red will finally start to listen to you.” He fiddled with the end of his gloves, a nervous habit. “I like you, maybe more than like? I don’t know point is that I really do mean it when I said I care about you. I guess I’m just not good with feelings.” He sighed, “So yeah, that’s all, I’ll leave you alone now.”

Lance stood up in a panicked mess, his heart racing almost as fast as the first time he flew Blue. “Keith, wait!”

“No, Lance, let’s just pretend this didn’t happen, yeah? I know you don’t like me in that way so, yeah, let’s just leave it at-”

Keith barely registered the hands grabbing at his jacket and pulling him and didn’t even have time to close his eyes before Lance’s lips were on his. Was he dreaming? He had to be. Dream or not, he planned to enjoy it before it was over.

Lance kept a tight grip on the jacket, sighing softly when he felt Keith’s lips move against his own. Two gloved hands crept around the back on his neck, gently stroking the ends of his growing, brown hair. Keith pressed himself closer, their lips softly moving together. When they moved away, their eyes were blown wide, lips glistening, both looked a little startled.

“You kissed me.” Keith breathed out.

“You kissed me back.”

He nodded, licking his lips, before breaking out in a small smile. “Does this mean my apology is accepted?”

Lance smiled fondly and went in for another kiss.

 

* * *

 

 

After that day, Red had finally started to work well with Lance. She was finally talking to him, and they were bonding more and more with each day that passed. Keith had almost gotten jealous when he heard Lance calling red ‘Rojo’, but Lance said it was his bonding methods, but he had just grown to really like Red. Lance would take Blue out on flights around the castle in his spare time, because he missed his Azul. Lance was happy to have two lions to care for, he liked to tell Keith that they made a nice shade of purple, or how Lance liked to call it: Morado. 

Keith still had a hard time coping with Shiro being gone, but it was easier with Lance by his side, when things got too bad he would go to him and he’d make everything just right. Lance started to gain more confidence with Keith’s help, his constant attention and praises never went unnoticed by Lance, and they always made his heart soar. Together they were moving onto brighter days.

**Author's Note:**

> I just love the idea of Lance saying the lions' names in Spanish (':
> 
> Azul = Blue  
> Rojo = Red  
> Morado = Purple
> 
> THANKS SO MUCH IF YOU READ THIS I HOPE YALL ENJOYED ((: comments & kudos are very much appreciated <3


End file.
